JMU VOLLEYBALL LOSES AT HOME TO VCU

Friday, October 15

Home

7:00 p.m.

James Madison University

15-5, 4-2CAA

VCU

6-16, 4-2CAA

VCU

James Madison

10/16/2010 1:10:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 15, 2010 - Virginia Commonwealth outhit James Madison .287 to .197 and held a 15.5-2 advantage in blocks on its way to defeating JMU volleyball 3-1 at Sinclair Gymnasium/Godwin Hall Friday evening.

The Dukes lost by set scores of 25-23, 19-25, 25-15 and 25-19 to end their home winning streak at 14 matches. It was JMU's first loss at home all season and drops it to 15-5 overall and 4-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. VCU improved to 6-16 and 4-2 in conference play.

"First of all, VCU came out and played great," Steinbrecher said. "They are a very athletic team and a nice blocking team that hits high. They played with passion and we didn't respond."

Madison was led by redshirt sophomore Natalie Abel's (Washington, Pa./Trinity) third double-double of the season. Abel had a career-high 16 kills on .382 hitting and 10 digs. Sophomore Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) added 15 kills and nine digs while senior Lindsay Callahan (Virginia Beach, Va./Landstown) had 10 kills, four digs and a service ace. Freshman Katie Daorai (Tampa, Fla./Plant) had a match-high 14 digs, while senior Lauren Fanelli (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) and sophomore Megan Wiechmann (Sunland, Calif./Village Christian) chipped in 21 and 24 assists, respectively.

Four different Rams had at least eight kills, led by Jasmine Water and Kelsie Clegg with 10 apiece. Mariel Frey had nine kills and 10 digs while Kristin Boyd added eight kills. Waters, Clegg and Courtney Hott led the block party for VCU combining for two solo blocks and 17 block assists. Libero Marissa Low had a team-best 13 digs.

The Dukes had a 53-48 advantage in kills, but had three service aces to 13 errors and had 25 attack errors to the Rams' 15.

The night got off to a great start with Madison running out to a 5-0 lead in set one. After a VCU timeout, the Rams responded with a 6-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to one. The team's traded points for a while before a 3-0 JMU run gave the Dukes a 17-14 advantage. Again the Rams responded, going on a 6-1 run of their own before holding off JMU to take the set 25-23.

In set two, the Dukes got off to another good start, taking a 13-10 lead ahead of a VCU timeout. Out of the break, the Rams evened the score at 13 with three quick po